The present invention relates to a machine for gathering or collating a plurality of articles into different groups, and for controlling the operation of machines located along a conveyor downstream of the gathering machine. The invention will be described with specific reference to a system for handling newspapers produced by a newspaper gathering (stuffing) machine, wherein the stuffing machine produces different assemblages or newspapers which must be handled by downstream equipment.
It has long been recognized that newspapers may serve as a convenient, low cost vehicle for distributing geographically specific advertising. The newspapers destined for a given geographical zone will be collated to include a number of standard sections (or inserts, as they are commonly referred to) which are to be included in the newspapers for all zones, together with one or more sections incorporating advertising specifically tailored to the readers in that zone.
The collators which have been used in the past to assemble newspapers may be used for the production of geographically specific newspapers. If no means is provided for automatically changing over from the assembly of newspapers for one geographical zone to the assembly of newspapers for the next zone, then the collator must be shut down during the changeover. If the zones are reasonably small, this may result in unacceptable loss in operating time. If means are provided for changing over from one zone to the next without interruption, then this downtime is averted.
As the newspapers are produced, they will be dropped from the collator onto a conveyor and will then be carried by the conveyor to downstream newspaper handling equipment. This equipment may include a stacker, tying equipment, labeler, and truck-loading equipment. This downstream equipment must be notified of a changeover by the collator from the production of newspapers for one zone to the next. For example, it is desirable that the stacks of newspapers provided by the stacker should each include newspapers for only a single zone. The stacker must therefore eject the stack being accumulated at the time that the first newspaper of a new zone arrives. Similarly, the labeler must know when newspapers for a new zone have arrived so that appropriately different labels may be applied to the papers in the new zone.
It is known to create gaps in a stream of like newspaper sections being conveyed to a plurality of stuffing machines. This gap maker operates to briefly hold the newspapers at one point in the stream, while permitting previous newspapers to continue along the conveyor. This creates a visible gap between the newspapers along the conveyor; the gap thus generated has been used to control divert gates to the respective stuffing machines.